Irrigation sprinklers are known for watering circular patterns or arc segments of a circular pattern. Typical irrigation sprinklers discharge a single rotary water stream that is rotated in a circle around a vertical rotational axis. This water stream is thrown by a sprinkler nozzle mounted in the peripheral sidewall of the nozzle head at an upward angle relative to the horizontal to direct the water a radial distance from the nozzle.
Irrigation systems generally comprise multiple sprinklers within multiple watering zones. Each sprinkler is recessed within the ground and is fed water through underground pipes. An irrigation controller activates a zone by opening a valve that controls the flow of water through the pipes of the zone. The irrigation controller activates the zones sequentially for a predetermined period of time based on zone program instructions.
Irrigation sprinklers currently have several drawbacks. The most significant is that they spray water in circles that are overlapped between sprinklers in order to conform to complex landscape shapes. This causes excess water to be deposited in the areas where these sprinklers overlap. In many systems 50% excess water is used.
Another drawback to conventional irrigation sprinklers is that they use only a few nozzles or nozzle openings. One drawback is that some nozzles spray a fine mist close to the sprinkler which results in water evaporation due to the small droplet size. Another drawback is that some of the nozzles must water a large annular ring around the sprinkler which results in watering that is not uniform across the annular ring (i.e., in a radial direction from the nozzle). As a result, these conventional sprinklers waste water and are inflexible to landscape variations.